Olio

No, not margarine. As crossword puzzlers know, an olio (with an i) is a collection of miscellany. And since I couldn't figure out a coherent way to present what I have to say, I decided just to list the items and call it an olio.

1. The health report. My medical records and I are going to the University of Chicago on Wednesday to find out whether their phase 1 clinic has any trials for which I am eligible. I really don't know anything more than that--don't know how long the appointment is, or how many doctors see me, or whether they will be able to tell me on Wednesday whether there is a trial for me. Presumably, I will have some sort of answer about a trial, or no trial, by next Monday.

2. The anniversary report. This week is the one-year anniversary of this blog. I'm amazed that I've actually been writing it for a year, but even more amazed that people (especially people who don't know me) are reading it. Just this week someone told me that her office-mate checks the blog every Monday. I can track the readership, or at least the number of hits the site gets, using Google Analytics, and I can tell you that last Monday and Tuesday, November 10-11, there were nearly 100 hits. (Ninety-seven, to be exact.) As you might expect, the number of hits is highest on Mondays and then drops off during the subsequent days, trending slowly down to about 13 or 14 hits on Saturday and Sunday and then climbing steeply on Monday. This happens every week, so the usage graph has a very regular pattern. Except that the week before last, usage was down (relative to other weeks) on Monday and Tuesday (Nov 3-4), and the graph was pretty flat all week. This is the first--and only--time that's happened. I guess people were otherwise occupied!

3. Weather report. It snowed earlier today and the lawns still have snow on them. I guess winter is here. Sigh.

4. Performance report. A reminder that I will be reading at A Room of One's Own in Madison this Sunday at 2 PM. I won't be reading anything you've already heard, I promise! I'm also going to be playing in the Madison Community Orchestra concert at the Mitby Theatre (MATC near the airport) at 7:30 PM on Friday. This is most likely the last time I'll play cello in public (not that you would actually be able to hear me, I hope, even if you were at the concert). This past weekend I decided that the stress of getting to rehearsals and then staying awake enough to actually play is just too much. I'm not a very good player anyway, and when I get tired, any technique I have simply disappears. Last Tuesday I was so tired by the end of rehearsal (9:30) that I could barely hold the cello. And rather than being a rewarding experience, playing is simply embarrassing. So why put myself through that?

5. Writing report. This week I am guest writer for an interesting web site, Great Lakes Town Hall (greatlakestownhall.org). Each morning I will post a short essay about the Great Lakes; if you hurry, you can still read today's before it's replaced by tomorrow's!

And that's it for this week's miscellany. Hope to see some of you on Sunday.